Vidstack Self-Hosted Video Player
The Vidstack style embeds a full-featured media player on the bio page powered by Vidstack, an MIT-licensed open source player. It plays video and audio from any direct URL — your own server, Bunny Stream, Cloudflare Stream, or any CDN — with no platform branding, no recommendations, and no algorithm.
Switching a link to Vidstack#
- Click the image icon in the link row toolbar
- Under Display as, select Vidstack player (self-hosted)
- The Vidstack panel opens below the row
Fields#
Label — becomes the player title shown in the controls bar. Recommended — it appears in the player controls and helps visitors know what they are watching or listening to.
URL (link row) — required. This is what tells WP LinkCanvas to render the video on your bio page. Paste your media URL here. Without a URL in this field the plugin has no link to load and the player will not appear.
Media type — choose Video or Audio. This controls the player layout. Video renders at 16:9. Audio renders as a compact waveform-style bar. When you pick a file from the WordPress media library the type is detected automatically.
Source URL — the direct URL to the media file. Paste a URL or click Pick from media to select a file from the WordPress media library. Supported formats:
| Format | Extension |
|---|---|
| Video | .mp4, .webm |
| Audio | .mp3, .m4a, .ogg, .wav |
| HLS stream | .m3u8 |
HLS streams are auto-detected from the .m3u8 extension. Vidstack lazy-loads its HLS engine only when a stream is present — no overhead on pages that use only MP4 or MP3.
Poster image — video only. An image shown before the video plays. Click Pick to select from the WordPress media library or paste a direct image URL. If left empty, Vidstack shows a black frame before playback begins.
Supported sources#
The player works with any publicly accessible media URL:
- Bunny Stream — recommended for video. Use the iframe embed URL from your Bunny Stream dashboard (the CDN URL, not the embed code)
- Cloudflare Stream — direct stream URL
- WordPress media library — files uploaded to your site
- Any CDN or hosting provider — as long as the URL is publicly accessible and returns a supported file type
- YouTube and Vimeo — paste the standard watch URL. Vidstack embeds these via their own player inside the Vidstack UI so controls and theming still apply
Player theming#
Player colours are controlled by the Custom theme builder’s Player colors section in the bio page editor. The colours available are accent, control colour, background, and corner radius. Each preset theme also has its own default player colours that match the overall design.
Player behaviour#
The player loads lazily — it initialises only when it enters the viewport, not on page load. This keeps bio page performance fast even when multiple Vidstack links are present.
The player renders inline in the bio page. For video, it is 16:9 by default. For audio, it renders as a compact player bar. Both use the playsInline attribute so they do not go fullscreen automatically on mobile.
Toolbar controls#
All standard toolbar controls apply — geo targeting, schedule, sensitive content gate, visible/hidden, and remove. The featured toggle is available but has no visual effect on the player wrapper. See Button Links for details on each.